Panem
by RTobine
Summary: The trilogy led me to wonder about the details of how to put a country back together after a revolution. My story, fitting in the timeline between the last chapter and the epilogue, is told by Peeta primarily about his experiences and the development of his friendship with Gale, as the two attempted to create something better than they were left, to rebuild Panem.


The following story is inspired from the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I hope that the author takes it in the spirit of appreciation in which it was intended. Her work brought up many ideas to be discussed around a story line detailing how to spark a revolution in a future world not so far fetched regarding our current trajectory. This led me to wonder about the details of how to put a country back together after such a revolution, in fact even how to put people back together after such events. I choose another voice as not to attempt to replicate her prose. My story, fitting in the timeline between the last chapter and the epilogue, is told by Peeta primarily about his experiences and the development of his friendship with Gale, deuteragonist and protagonist, as the two attempted to create something better than they were left, to rebuild Panem.

Title: **Panem**

Author: Ronald Tobine

Editor: Mary Good

Year: 2012

_This is an original work based on the work of Suzanne Collins's Hunger Game Trilogy. It is meant to be complementary and faithful to the characters and setting which she created and to explain what happened after the rebellion, the challenges a nation faces when it has to reinvent it self. The book is written by the character Peeta Mellark in the first person, a different voice from the original, and focuses on his friendship with Gale Hawthorne, 'cousin' to all of Panem. _

For: My Katie Scarlet

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works - Hebrews 10:24

Forward

I grew up in the shadow of the founding fathers. My father, Gale Hawthorne, had already done his civic duty to create a new Panem by the time I was born. I am very proud of his role in our nation's history. I am very blessed to have been raised by him, a man who spent more time with the children of the Mellark-Hawthorne family then he did doing anything else in his life. We went on picnics. He taught us to identify birds and trees and flora and fauna of all kinds. He played games with us, games with balls and cards as well as games that used our imagination. Once, when I was sick, he even brought my favorite pony into the house so I could see her.

This is the book which Peeta wrote about him and my father after the Great Rebellion, and like the others, it attempts to show the human aspect of our history. My father and Uncle Peeta spent lonely childhoods trying to figure out the nature of suffering and how to overcome it, a fancy way to say they were just trying to get by. Uncle Peeta got lost in a world inside of himself. My father grew up angry, bitter, and hurt. They, like all of the District children as well as the children of the CapitolCity in their day, suffered from both physical and mental abuse which left them with incalculatable scares.

They often found themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum when it came to dealing with their plight. Uncle Peeta once wrote to me, "I certainly didn't have any answers to contradict his (my father's) methods or reasons (for dealing with Snow). I could only ask that each person look within themselves for the answers, the answer as to why we exist and how to live life as a good person. I saw that struggle within him. I admired him for that struggle. For all my great love of Katniss, her struggle was to return, to forget, to let go. In your father, I saw the struggle to proceed, to remember, to hold on. We had this in common."

This is one of four books and five classics chronicling the creation of a "new" Panem et Circenses. This story is well known, though misinterpretations have been made and people have spoken for Uncle Peeta, Aunt Katniss, and my father. In all, the concept is as W. H. Auden said after the second great war of human history had begun, "We must love one another or die." Our connection is our greatest need. Our diversity our greatest strength.

Peeta Hawthorne, Ph.D.

Consult College, Capitol University

Section 1: The Sacrifice, the Savior and the Serpents

Chapter 1

It was over five hundred years ago when the philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, wrote, "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster." He also wrote "That which does not kill us, makes us stronger." When I read these quotes, I think of my friend Gale Hawthorne, known to many as 'Our Cousin', a cousin not only to my wife, Katniss Mellark, but a cousin to all of Panem. He is a man I have come to admire, respect, and love. This is his story, my part of it, and how we fought to found a "new" Panem.

Gale stood with a couple of other government officials in the shadow of Cheyenne Mountain in District Two. He glanced at maps which laid out the rebuilding of the town and then motioned outward as he talked about the various placement of things. A war hero left to a perfunctory bureaucratic office of the interim government of Panem following the Great Rebellion, Gale lived in self-inflicted exile in District Two, almost as a self-imposed penance for what he perceived as his war crimes.

Gale was about to say something when he heard a voice behind him call out, "Don't you think it would be better left up to the people to decide?"

He turned to find me standing there with a bit of a grin on my face.

His face then went from deadly serious, discussing the business of District Two, to puzzlement and then to anger in just a few seconds. "What are you doing here?"

Gale had had just over two years to stew. What feelings had festered regarding the events of our past, really I could only guess. Honestly we didn't have a past together, except we both wanted Katniss to choose us, choose us to shower with her attention. The last time I saw him, he was leaving with her to kill President Snow and end the rebellion. I watched them, holding the tiny suicide pill Gale had given me in my hand, trying to figure out my own course of action.

I looked around him, the scares of war still evident. The grid work before him of roads and sidewalks contained the charred remains of stone, brick and wood structures. I could even still smell the burning embers as if it had only been yesterday. I recalled before the war how beautiful District Two had been, one of the richest, with mountains in the background, and green meadows with a fresh dew smell. Now everything was a shade of gray or black as if covered in the coal dust of my home district.

"Came to see your progress in District Two," I replied. The other two men who stood with Gale couldn't quite hide looks of surprise. I held out my hand and said "Hello, I'm Peeta Mellark."

One of the men shook my hand eagerly, trying to suppress a big smile. "Nice to meet you," he said, elation in his voice.

Gale, looking a bit irritated by this, spoke up, "This is Claudius Monroe. He's an appointee of Paylor." Then he motioned to the other man, "This is Mr. Nero Hamilton, another appointee, finance."

I shook the other man's hand too and said, "Nice to meet you."

"Thank you," Hamilton said, a note of meekness in his voice. "We'll leave you two alone." They hurried, off whispering like school children to each other as they walked away.

Further annoyed, Gale said, "You're a bit of a celebrity aren't you?"

I remarked, "We don't get that back in Twelve."

"The people in Twelve have known you since you were a nobody . . . So why are you here?"

I picked up on the anger in his voice. He came to District Two to work while, after finishing up some business in the Capitol, I returned to our home, District Twelve, so that I could pick up where I had left off with Katniss, the girl in question between us. There are still a few people who believe the story that Gale was Katniss's cousin; he was not. He was an old friend, for a while her best friend, someone she loved, and for a short while, they shared a flirtatious nature. That's my take on the story anyway.

I got to know Gale in two ways; in what a mutual friend, Darius, had told me about him, and from him directly at the end of the Great Rebellion when he was part of the team that rescued me from Snow right up until we parted on our final battle. I found him to be bright, passionate, and caring.

"Are you mad at me for something?" I asked, trying to sound clueless.

"Peeta . . . Never mind. You looked better than the last time I saw you." As it turns out, while I was unconscious after the fire bombing and the rebels taking control of the Capitol, he checked in on me, my entire front side burned beyond recognition. Gale was not one to let people know he cared and it seems odd that he would have cared about me, but then Gale carried about all people, all those he considered his people.

"Yes, there's a lot those Capitol doctors can do," I said.

"I heard about you demanding that they repair the Avox's," Gale said. "That was a good thing to do." For a second I heard some warmth in what he said.

"Well they could only restore their voices. The damage done to them mentally has been the real struggle. I've seen you on TV, talking about the progress here in Two, the rebuilding. You must be quite proud."

"Just trying to get by."

"I guess we all have," I remarked. "Anyway, I did want something. I want you to come to the Capitol with me."

"What for?" he snapped.

"I'm going to the Constitutional Convention."

"I'm sure Twelve will elect you, hands down, but I don't stand much of a chance here in Two of running for anything, much less delegate."

"When I agreed to support Paylor as interim president, I made some demands, like the Avox's. I also demanded that the Capitol be given a delegation at the convention."

"You would." It didn't sound like he approved.

"I did. And, I demanded a delegation of victors they're calling the Mockingjay delegation. Joanna and Beetee. Annie wants to come along but . . ."

"She still having trouble?" he asked, real concern not only in his tone, also in his eyes.

"She doesn't say much. She's a very good mother when it comes to holding Little Fin but that's about it. Still she's getting better."

"You and Katniss took her in?"

"I brought her from Thirteen, yes. Without Finnick, she didn't have anyone and I felt I should take care of her. We know each other."

"You mean being Victors?" he asked.

"When we were held by Snow . . . they . . . she . . . I couldn't let them hurt her. They killed Darius in front of me and . . ."

"It's alright Peeta. Don't explain." He cut me off. I knew at that moment he held some sort of kindness for me.

I must have looked puzzled because I was trying to figure out why. I went on to explain the situation, "They looked at me and couldn't understand why I would willingly suffer to get them to leave her alone. Some of them, Gale, truly had no idea."

His face contorted. This time he was looking for understanding, "Did you know Annie before you were captured?"

"No I had never met her before. She was introduced to me as Finnick's girl by Snow and when I told her I was sure Finnick was ok, she smiled. Then they hurt her . . ."

"And you stopped them?" he asked.

"Yes. I tried. She'll be coming along. I even asked Enobaria. I haven't heard from her."

"Haymitch?"

"No. I asked, and he gave me advice, but he's not coming."

"What was his advice?" Gale asked.

"To remember Darius."

"Darius?"

"Before the games Darius and I were friends. We talked a lot about how the world should be and how it used to be. He had a lot of books. All of which are now safe in my house."

I pictured those books, on my shelves, brought up from the basement, and displayed. Philosophies and fictions, Shakespeare, Descartes, Locke, Voltaire, Smith, Marx, Dickens, Bellamy, Turgenev, Demming, Orwell, Camus, Bradbury, Kundera, and so forth and so on. I remembered as Darius gave me each one and said to read it. I remembered our discussions. He had once told me, 'great authors don't give you answers,' they give you 'questions.' Tears filled my eyes, right there in front of Gale, remembering Darius.

Gale asked with skepticism if not outright objection, "You and Darius were friends?"

"Yes. Before the games. He was originally from the Capitol, you know. His parents couldn't pay their debts and so he was sent to be a Peacekeeper in Twelve."

"I didn't know that. Of course, I didn't know you knew each other either."

"Sure, he was always in town, mostly at the Hob but almost always around town. I use to give him more pastries then he could afford," I said with a smile. Of course I knew that, like Katniss, he considered Darius and the people of the Hob to belong to him. "If my mother had found out, well she might not have been all that mad. You know, taking care of the local authorities for future favors, and she liked Darius. She was from the Capitol too."

"Your mother was?" Gale asked with anger and surprise.

"Yes, Rosaline Escalus . You'd be surprised how many people in Twelve were from the Capitol at one point. Greasy Sae." I enjoyed making these revelations, knowing how off putting they were to him. Not just because he didn't like the Capital but that I knew things about these people, people he considered his people, that he didn't.

"No way, not Greasy."

"No, but her mother."

"You knew Greasy too?"

"Yes, very well. She was the only one in the world who knew about my crush on Katniss, well before everyone knew about my crush on Katniss. Even before I told my father. I didn't actually tell him until right after I was called up."

"I would have never guessed," he replied.

Of course he wouldn't have guessed. He never bothered to get to know me or really get to know any of these people which he considered 'his people.' He assumed all my friends were from town and all the people in town weren't much different from Capitol people. To him all Capitol people were bad, while those he defined as 'his people' were all good, or if not all good at least their bad behavior was understandable, justified. I didn't dislike Gale for this, though I did make note of it. His people were his family, that included the Everdeens, and though not as dear to his heart, it also included the people of the Seam, and once attacked by the Capitol it finally extended to include all the people of Twelve. Once the rebellion began, it expanded further to all the people in every district. That's how Gale worked.

"So Katniss is going?" he asked.

"No. She understands why I have to do it but she doesn't want to go."

"That's Katniss." That statement pricked me a bit. How dare he assume he knows her like that, a girl desperate to avoid getting involved, desperate to stay tucked in her little world. After all she had been through, didn't she deserve to be left alone? He spoke as to judge her. Anyway, she didn't have to attend. I would go for both of us.

"She told me she trusted me to take care of things," I said.

"You know there's talk about making the two of you some sort of King and Queen?"

"What? I hadn't heard that but then we don't get much gossip back in Twelve." This was a lie. I had heard such talk but wanted to move the conversation along and find out what he knew.

"Well those cameras all over the two of you kind of fan the fire."

I said, "Yeah, Katniss has had it with that. Plutarch keeps sending them."

"Her hunting and you baking. What was that you sketching and her describing to you different outfits all about?" Gale asked.

"Plutarch's idea. Help the people see that life is returning to normal. We get so much mail and gifts, every day something arrives. Katniss stopped minding once she started giving it away to the people of Twelve. But we know people don't have much to spare anywhere in Panem and still they keep sending stuff. We go into town and no one will let us pay for anything. We try to trade with baked goods and her game."

"She looks good."

"She is. Happy too."

"Did you actually marry her?" Gale asked.

"Yes but not when I said. Several months after the fighting ended."

"I knew it wasn't what you said on stage," he replied. He sounded almost as if I had insulted him.

"We just did the Twelve thing and . . ."

"I figured," Gale said, interrupting me. "They keep calling you the Mellark's and they all want to know when you're going to have a baby. Of course there's a lot of coverage of Little Finnick too. Katniss already looks like a mother holding him. They call him the Prince of Panem and you're the closest he has to a father. So why are you here?"

"I want you to join the Mockingjay delegation."

"I'm not a Victor."

"Yes you are. When I couldn't fight with Katniss , you did. As far as I'm concerned that makes you a Victor. The games didn't end until the firebombing in the Capitol. You were part of our team."

He hesitated a moment and then said, "Thank you Peeta. I'm not sure, but thank you. I don't exactly know what help I'd be. And I'm sure we'd agree on everything, if anything at all."

"That's not what I'm looking for. I don't need people that agree with me. Why do you think I asked Joanna and Beetee?"

"There are things I was a part of that you don't know about."

"You think Katniss doesn't talk about you?"

"Of course she'd tell you those things, but. . ."

I cut him off. "Not just those things. She tells me a lot of good stuff too. She even tried to get Annie to go hunting with her. It didn't work out. She really misses her hunting buddy. She wishes you'd let Rory come. He writes to her and she writes back that he's always welcome."

"He should be here with his family."

"I'm not here to interfere. It's funny to see Katniss and Johanna come back from hunting"

"I bet. She lives in Twelve now too?"

"No, the Capitol, but she comes often. She's keeping a close eye on Paylor."

"How's Katniss going to feel with you being gone?"

"That's part of the agreement too. I get a hovercraft to bring me home every evening."

"Sounds wasteful."

"It's the only thing I could figure out, that or have the meetings in Twelve."

"You really are good for her you know. You're what she needs," Gale said in all sincerity. "I miss her too, but I'm happy for her."

"I wish you'd tell her that."

"I doubt she wants to hear from me."

"You're wrong."

"And that wouldn't bother you, her and me hunting together?"

"No. She loves you and you love her. Why would that bother me?" I asked.

"I guess you're right. She never did feel about me the way she feels about you," he said very bitterly.

"I'm sorry if any of this hurts you."

"No. Being alone. . ." He didn't finish what he was going to say but I think he wanted to say that being alone hurt. "There aren't many people here who have anything to do with us after what I did, except for girls who assume I have all this money."

"Not interested in them huh?"

"No not at all, not even as distractions."

"I meant what I said. This planning you're doing here, it should be left up to people to decided, not government officials. The land should be held by the people and let them figure out what they want to do with it."

"They'd soon destroy it," he said.

"You don't have much faith in them either?"

"I just don't have much faith left at all."

"Well then let's figure it out. Maybe you can plan the building yourself. Make an enterprise out of it. Make some money. Maybe become rich not because you take money and enslave people through manipulating their minds and using their bodies, but because you have this fair exchange. Imagine people willingly give you money for what you sell them and what you sell them actually making their lives better."

"What the hell are you talking about Peeta?"

"Like in the Hob, except here you build houses and people buy them from you."

"How the hell am I going to build a house by myself?"

"Get people to work for you."

"What, like I'm the government?"

"No a private business. Like my parent's bakery."

"Where do you get this crap?"

"It's not crap! And I got it from books. Darius and I use to talk about this stuff all the time. How the world should be. You know, while you were spouting anger about overthrowing the government, Darius and I tried to figure it out. It hasn't been so pretty since Snow fell has it?"

"Not at all."

"So things have to be put back together. This time all the people will share all the power. We have to trust in them to do the right things."

"Now you're just foolish. Maybe in Twelve were all that's left are the Seam people who are decent people, but not out here. You should see the stealing and looting. These people shouldn't have any power. Power to do what? Rape their neighbor?"

"Together they should hold all power. That way they keep each other in check and not some dictator."

"You and Darius sure had some lofty talks. But none of that means a damn thing in the real world."

"Then what does Gale? What does mean something? You tell me. Leave Paylor to rule for the next hundred years or maybe bring in Heavensbee. Bet he's dying to take her place?"

"Make you and Katniss King and Queen, and be done with it."

"What?"

"Alright, Peeta, I'll think about it, but I wouldn't be going to make you a dictator."

I laughed. "No I don't want to be a dictator. I just want Panem to be better, to be tranquil. To care about the general welfare. I want justice to be administered fairly, our borders protected from our enemies, and everyone free to be the person they choose to be."

"So we create a government to control others, to impose our values on them," Gale said.

I broke out laughing, a good strong laugh, a big smile. "See that's why I need you. You'll keep me honest. I want each man to be able look inside himself for value, to define his own purpose, to approach life with the joy that everything is and know that it can always be that way."

"What way? Peeta, things change."

"Do they really? You ask me, they don't really change at all. The names, the faces, some events. But basically other then a few niceties, things haven't changed all that much. But we'll have plenty of time to talk about that."

"I said I'd think about it. What did Katniss say when you told her you were asking me?"

"To keep an eye on you, that you aren't the person she thought you were."

"No I've changed. The war changed me," Gale said.

"Did it? Do you like what you've become?"

"Haven't had time to think about it. What are we going to be buddies now?"

I looked at him and remembered when I found out that Katniss had returned to Twelve without Gale. I wanted to go to him, kick the crap out of him. How could he leave her alone like that, even if he had just been her friend? I didn't bother with him because I didn't have time, though I pictured myself slamming both hands into his chest, lifting him up off the floor, and sending him flying backwards. Now I just felt bad for him because I realized what he said was a lie. He had indeed had time to think about it. That might have been all he has been doing for the past two years.

"I doubt it," I answered. I looked at him and saw a man consumed by jealousy and rage. I wondered why. After all Katniss had told me about his mother it seemed to me he had great fortune and on top of that, was never called into the games. "Gale, there are mornings when I just cry and cry. Sometimes I'm just furious with the world. 'Why me? Why did all this have to happen to me?' But I refuse to let myself dwell in that place. I want to be happy. And only I can make that happen."

"And what if you can't?"

"Then I'll die trying."

I knew that Katniss would never be safe unless we settle things in Panem. That's all I ever wanted. In some real way, I could care less about anything else. There Gale stood before me, having given up on humanity. I was desperate to hold onto this idea, that if the world could be a better place with a better government, then Katniss would be free, and if she were free she would spend her life willingly in my arms. She would never leave me alone. She would never let them hurt me.

I looked at Gale as he searched my face. There was a definite chill in the air, though at least it was spring. Several birds flew overhead, a couple of soaring hawks, a formation of Geese, even a few doves. I heard the screech of a hawk as it descended. I bet that field behind him was full of rabbits, snakes and prairie chickens.

He said, "Maybe I should read those books of yours."

"You're welcome anytime. Greasy makes a great duck. Come for dinner. Bring your family." I said.

"We'll see."

"That's all I can ask I guess. So show me your plans for this piece of land. How are you going to take care of it and provide a place to live for the people of Two?"

"They're talking about renaming it Colorado after the river."

"Same back in Two. They want to rename it after the Ohio River."

"Much better than the stupid numbers."

"I agree. See we're off to a good start. We agree the Capitol should not dictate the identity of the districts."


End file.
